NFL serious when it comes to players’ gambling
BALTIMORE — Concerns around gambling in the NFL have intensified in recent months, with players on several teams facing suspensions or reportedly under investigation. League officials are scrambling to make sure everyone understands the rules.
When Ravens players reported for mandatory minicamp last week, they were greeted with a talk from General Manager Eric DeCosta, laying out the details of the NFL’s prohibition against gambling and emphasizing the severity of potential penalties, which have included suspensions ranging from six games to at least a year.
“It does concern you that it’s not always too clear,” Ravens Coach John Harbaugh said. “The clearest thing would be [to] just stay away from it, but guys are going to be on vacation, and they may play Blackjack or whatever; there’s nothing wrong with that, if they do that. But it is very clear in terms of sports gambling, in terms of where you can be during the season, those kinds of things, and in terms of not betting on football — period, end of story. That’s pretty darn clear.”
League officials say they’re doubling down on efforts to clarify the rules for players, mandating education sessions on gambling for incoming rookies and visiting team facilities to reiterate the details.
“The world has changed over the last few years,” Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president of communications, public affairs and policy, said on a conference call with reporters Tuesday. “Sports gambling has a great deal more presence in people’s lives than it did just a few short years ago, which means for us as [a] sports league, where integrity of the game is the highest single principle, that we have to be thoughtful and careful and scrutinize how we share information and educate people around the rules that govern it.”
Miller and Sabrina Perel, the NFL’s chief compliance officer, laid out six key rules players must follow:
■ 1. Don’t bet on the NFL.
■ 2. Don’t gamble at your team facility, while traveling for a road game or staying at a team hotel.
■ 3. Don’t have someone bet for you.
■ 4. Don’t share team “inside information.”
■ 5. Don’t enter a sportsbook during the NFL playing season.
■ 6. Don’t play daily fantasy football.
Perel said the NFL is working with online sportsbooks, which have promised to inform the league whenever a player bets under his own name.
For decades, the NFL kept its distance from the gaming industry, but that has changed in recent years. Many states now permit sports betting, and the league has created new revenue streams by allying with the country’s largest gaming corporations.
In this new climate, bets are just a few clicks away for most people, including NFL players, several of whom have incurred serious penalties for gambling over the past 15 months.
This new era of enforcement began last year when the league suspended then-Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley indefinitely for betting on NFL games during the 2021 season.
“There is nothing more fundamental to the NFL’s success — and to the reputation of everyone associated with our league — than upholding the integrity of the game,” Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in his letter informing Ridley of his suspension. “Your actions put the integrity of the game at risk, threatened to damage public confidence in professional football, and potentially undermined the reputations of your fellow players throughout the NFL.
“For decades, gambling on NFL games has been considered among the most significant violations of league policy warranting the most substantial sanction.”
Ridley, who now plays for the Jacksonville Jaguars, was reinstated in March and has since warned his NFL peers to avoid gambling as much as possible.
“I just schooled them on what I know and how serious it is,” he told the Florida Times-Union. “I think, even for me, once I found out I was getting investigated, I didn’t even know [how serious it was]. I was like, ‘OK, cool.’ I didn’t know how serious it was until I left that interview. It’s just schooling the guys on not to do it. It’s not worth it at all.”
Despite such admonitions, the NFL announced in April that five more players, four from the Detroit Lions and one from the Washington Commanders, were suspended. Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams, the 12th overall pick in the 2022 draft, was the most prominent.
If anyone thought that was the end of it, reports emerged earlier this month that the league is investigating Indianapolis Colts cornerback and kick returner Isaiah Rodgers for possible violations of the gambling policy.
Though he has yet to be penalized, Rodgers apologized on Twitter, writing: “I know I have made mistakes and I am willing to do whatever it takes to repair the situation. The last thing I ever wanted to do was to be a distraction to the Colts organization, my coaches, and my teammates. I’ve let people down that I care about.”
Though league officials have said they’re confident the rules are clear, subtler distinctions do come into play. For example, players are banned from daily fantasy football, where inside information could have an outsized impact, but are permitted to play in season-long fantasy leagues with prizes that don’t exceed $250.
Has the league done enough to make sure players grasp these details? A spokesman for the NFL Players Association said the union has “no comment at this time.”
Several Ravens veterans said they do not see a major problem despite the suspensions for players on other teams.
“I don’t think it concerns me,” left tackle Ronnie Stanley said. “There might be a lack of clarity, but I don’t think so. Because of all the different rules between gambling, all the different sites, fantasy … I think guys, especially in the newer generation, probably get a little bit more confused about what they can and can’t do. But, I know the league and [NFLPA], they try to have these meetings to make sure that we have a full understanding of things that we can and can’t gamble on.”
Cornerback Marlon Humphrey noted that DeCosta and Harbaugh have done their best to clarify the rules: “Yes, there’s a lot [that’s] been going on. But yes, Coach [Harbaugh] did talk about that. Coach and ‘EDC’ [DeCosta] talked about that in the meeting, so, hopefully, that’s the end of that.” Harbaugh hopes so. “I don’t think it’s that hard to figure out, really,” he said. “If you want to push it, then you’re probably doing yourself a disservice [and] putting yourself at risk, and if you have any questions, you should ask before you get into anything.”